Reflections from the belly
The baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch points to a faith which is radically accepting and inclusive. (Listen.)
The Ethiopian eunuch is cut off in every way. A precious part of him has been sliced off, and this loss defines him: for we do not even know his name. Instead, we only know that he’s a eunuch. And as a eunuch, he has been cut off from having children, and from establishing a family line.
The Bible is a dangerous book, full of contradictions and contested images of God. How, then, shall we read? (Listen.)
Last Sunday we baptised a young woman, and then we gave her a dangerous gift. That is, we gave her a book of wisdom and stories, prayers and puzzles, comforts and challenges, contradictions and contested images of God; yes, we gave her a Bible.
Palm Sunday is not so much a triumphal entry as a profound anticlimax, a raspberry, a fart. (Listen.)
Some days, I’m flooded with awe. I look around and I see miracles. I see people affirmed in equal marriage, and victim-survivors acknowledged and believed. I see households working towards equitable arrangements, women in leadership, women in Parliament. I see small acts of justice raining down, and diversity appreciated in myriad ways: and I am filled with hope.
In Christ we discover no judgement, only paradise: so why is condemnation such a feature of Christianity? A potted history. (Listen.)
It is a mystery to me why so many Christians spend their lives condemning people. It is a mystery to me why so many Christians spend their lives feeling guilty and condemned. And it is a mystery to me why I spend so much time condemning myself.
To those reeling from another week in the patriarchy, the cross offers only foolishness: but in that foolishness we find healing and companionship. (Listen.)
Like so many people, I feel overwhelmed by the events of the last few weeks. Parliament House is revealed to be a hotbed of sexual violence; and our Prime Minister cannot imagine it matters until, we are told, his wife prompts him to think of his own daughters. Then the attorney general is named in allegations of historic rape. Meanwhile, the head of the defence force instructs young cadets that they should not make themselves ‘prey’ to predators, and that they can do this by, among other things, avoiding being ‘attractive.’ All this while our training grounds for power, that is, Sydney’s private schools, are publicly revealed as manifestly unsafe places for young women.
Continue reading “Corinthians | Human violence, and the foolishness of the cross”
Repentance is about changing your mind, and accepting the freedom which this new perspective brings. (Listen.)
Once upon a time, long long ago, I had a great-uncle who was slightly mad. He used to parade up and down a major traffic bridge wearing a sandwich board; on it, large letters proclaimed, ‘Repent!’ I don’t know about you, but this sort of thing makes me twitchy. It’s like the time I was sitting in a tram quietly minding my own business, when a bloke I knew to be an intermittently violent psychiatric patient loomed over me and aggressively demanded, ‘Have you been saved?’ To which I replied, ‘Yes, of course,’ and immediately scrambled past him and shot off the tram.
Continue reading “Mark | Change your thinking, claim your life”
We like to make things complicated, but the faith which heals is simple. A word for our graduates moving away to university. (Listen.)
Naaman was hoping for a miracle. ‘Easy peasy lemon squeezy,’ said the prophet’s errand boy. ‘Go wash in the Jordan seven times, and you’ll be made clean.’ Then he ran back inside, narrowly avoiding a boot in the behind.
Just as the first recognized minister in Mark’s gospel is an unnamed woman in a private home, most ministry today continues to be spontaneous, informal, domestic. (Listen.)
I wonder what Simon’s mother-in-law prepared for Jesus and his disciples. Pita bread and hummus? Rice wrapped in vine leaves? Dried figs, almonds, and a soft mound of goats’ cheese? Because when Jesus visits Simon’s house, Simon’s mother-in-law is sick. But although it’s the Sabbath, and although she’s a woman, and although she’s sick, Jesus touches her. She is resurrected; she gets out of bed; and, most Bible translations say, she begins to serve them: and in the Middle East, that always means food.
Continue reading “Mark | Jesus-centred ministry: Spontaneous, informal, domestic”
Great teachers like Jesus use what they know to show you a bigger, bolder, more expansive world. They help you find your place in it, and they build you up in love. (Listen.)
Over the years, I’ve had some great teachers. There was Jim, who began a calculus lesson by leaping around the room at ever-decreasing intervals until he got down to teeny-tiny little mincing steps. There was Ellen, who ignited in me a love for poetry. There was Keith, who turned the Bible upside down with gentleness and grace. Then there are all my other teachers: family and friends and people in churches: because everywhere I go, I find teachers.
Mary’s virginity has nothing to do with passivity or innocence. Instead, it’s the independent attitude which undergirds her prophetic power. (Listen.)
The first time I heard the word ‘virgin’, I was in primary school. I was confronted by a mean little gang who asked hungrily, ‘Are you a virgin?’ The way they said it, it was clearly a dirty word, and so of course I said, ‘No.’ They howled with laughter, and I felt so ashamed. I asked them to explain the word, but they just snickered some more, then ran off to the next poor sucker.
Alison and the whale 